The last batch of high-energy modules was inside the train car. Hydra's factories and strongholds outside had all been wiped out.
According to Dr. Zola's confession, Red Skull's final trump card was to use concentrated energy bombs, load them onto more than a dozen suicide aircraft, and launch extermination-level attacks on the capitals and cities of important Allied nations.
Shaw was waiting here at Schmidt's suggestion. Steve Rogers was the greatest obstacle to Hydra's Valkyrie Project.
Red Skull knew he couldn't handle Captain America. Judging by Rogers's past battles, any number of ordinary soldiers would be nothing but cannon fodder. Shaw, however, was more than capable of solving the problem.
Steve and Bucky inspected the train car by car. Apart from equipment and supplies, they hadn't seen a single soldier. When they reached the first car behind the engine, they found its door open and the interior empty, save for a brown-haired white man in a long black trench coat, seated in the middle.
Shaw clapped his hands and rose with an exaggerated flourish. He sized up the tall, muscular Captain America, who stood ready behind his shield, while Bucky raised his large-caliber automatic rifle and took cover behind Steve.
"Mr. Steve Rogers, and you, sir, whose name I don't know. Allow me to introduce myself: Sebastian Shaw. I've been expecting you."
Shaw gave a slight bow. He tried hard to appear more gentlemanly, but his manner of speaking was so affected that he sounded like a nouveau riche European.
Steve said nothing. In a situation this strange, his opponent couldn't be an ordinary man. He remembered what his teacher had always told him: in battle, even a lion must give its all when facing a rabbit.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
At Steve's slight nod, Bucky pulled the trigger without hesitation. The magazine's